7:34 PM: The BART Police Department is prohibiting its officers from using Tasers over the next couple weeks while the officers are retrained on the department’s new policy regarding the stun guns, BART Acting Police Chief Daschel Butler said tonight.
BART police officers were issued a memo today, letting them know of the decision, which will take effect Friday.
BART chief spokesman Linton Johnson said two recent federal court rulings, which say Tasers can only be used for defense, prompted the BART Police Department to modify its Taser policy.
Butler said the department had already been in the process of updating its Taser policy, and that the new policy incorporates the courts’ decisions as well as the best practices of other agencies and findings of a report conducted by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives. The comprehensive report by NOBLE was conducted following the New Year’s Day 2009 killing of BART passenger Oscar Grant III at the hands of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle.
Johnson said a recent non-injury incident in which a BART police officer used a Taser “was a factor in accelerating our decision to suspend Taser use until we got our policy conformed with the court,” but added that the decision would have been made regardless.
BART board president James Fang said this evening, “I think, in general, we just want to make sure that the training we provide our officers represents BART’s high police standards.”
The use of Tasers by BART police officers has been controversial since Grant was killed at the Fruitvale station in Oakland.
Mehserle’s lawyer, Michael Rains, has admitted Mehserle shot and killed Grant but claims that the shooting was accidental because Mehserle meant to use his Taser on Grant but fired his gun by mistake.
BART officers were required to turn in their Tasers to their sergeants today and the suspension of the stun guns will go into effect Friday, according to a bulletin issued by Butler.
Over the next couple weeks, officers will be trained during their regular shifts and will be provided with the updated policy along with video training.
6:10 PM: The BART Police Department is temporarily prohibiting its officers from using Tasers, BART board president James Fang said tonight.
He said the decision was made by BART’s Interim Police Chief Daschel Butler.
“I think, in general, we just want to make sure that the training we provide our officers represents BART’s high police standards,” Fang said.
Fang said he does not believe the decision was directly connected to the New Year’s Day 2009 killing of BART passenger Oscar Grant III at the hands of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle.
Mehserle’s lawyer, Michael Rains, has admitted Mehserle shot and killed Grant but claims that the shooting was accidental because Mehserle meant to use his Taser stun gun on Grant but fired his gun by mistake.
“We’re just suspending it for right now to let us reassess where our training is,” Fang said of the decision to halt Taser use.
